Everyday Hero Stories

Where did your values come from?

We've all had people in our lives who have made a positive impact on us. A parent or grandparent, a sibling who was there for us, or maybe even just a guy who shines shoes for a living? Whoever they are, tell us their story so they can inspire us even more.

Tell Us Your Story
LOVE
TOM P I was always the type of person who didn't believe that I could find someone who truly loved me, for me. I would wake up thinking that I may die alone. Then when I was in high school, I met my bestfriend/boyfriend. He made me feel like I matter in this world. Thanks to him I now believe that love is possible. If...
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LOVE
SARAH B My hero is my father, and I can't even begin to tell his story in under 500 words. I am only 19 years old but for as long as I can remember, the strongest foundation in my life has been my dad. My father married my mother over 30 years ago and started out with as little as little can be but grew with her and...
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HARD WORK
DAN G My dad is buried in Riverside Arlington National Memorial Cemetery for his service in Vietnam. He died 40 years after exposure to Agent Orange and had parasupranuclearpalsy from it. In fact he was one of the first cases. In the months before he passed he said to me, "good girl, you're a good girl." He chose to go...
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LIVE YOUR DREAMS
GEORGETTE R Georgette Reed is an inspirational and outstanding athlete across Canada. I first met her seven years ago when I started competing at indoor track and field meets at the Butterdome in Edmonton, AB. Back then, she was still doing a few competitions and was built like a thrower. Now she has taken on coaching at the...
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LOVE
JUDY F My mother continues to inspire me everyday, and that is why she is my hero. Words cannot come close to expressing how special my mother is to me. Her everlasting care, compassion, love, and wisdom, to name just a few of her many great qualities, are what fuel and drive me to become the person I am. My mother is...
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PERSEVERANCE
TRAVIS F Even though my brother is ten years older than myself and he moved out when I was only seven, his presence in my life has made me a better person. Travis was put down many times in life but he always fought back. When my family was going through a very tough time it was Travis that pulled us through. He has...
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CLASS AND GRACE
CLASS AND GRACE OF A MOTHER An older lady was at the check-out in the local discount convenience store- behind a young Mother with two children who had laid down all her dollar bills on the counter and was counting out change. She came up short, and asked the cashier to remove the gallon of milk from the sale. Holding the smaller child on...
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CARING
LAURA N My hero is Laura. We have both gone down the road to divorce and she has inspired me and showed me the true meaning of love. Laura is a giver, always helping everyone with a terrific smile and a warm heart. Laura is very talented and very artistic in her paintings she creates. This woman's passion for love is...
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COURAGE
MARTI AND MAUREEN M These two amazing people are my parents, they are always there for me when I need them, no matter what is going on. As well as taking care of their family they deal with their own problems and through it all they stay themselves. They are my parents and my heroes.
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OPTIMISM
ERNA B My hero is my grandma. She has the unshaken ability to find the good in any person. She is an optimist when hell breaks loose and in any situation will do whatever she can to help a soul good or bad. There is not a dull day in her presence and is grateful for every second she lives, having grown up in Nazi...
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ENCOURAGEMENT
DON'T WORRY Five years ago during training to be a softball umpire I was assigned to be behind home plate in my very first game. The varsity catcher looked at me and asked if it was my first game, I said yes and asked, "Does it show?". She just looked at me and said "DON'T WORRY YOU'RE GOING TO DO JUST FINE". That one...
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COMMITMENT
AMANDA B My hero is my daughter, Amanda, and she has two beautiful children, Amber and AJ. AJ is severely Autistic. Amanda has weathered the worst, fighting her own health battles. She has never wavered in her hope and optimism for AJ. She has stood by him, rallied for him, and when need be, Mama Bear comes out in her so...
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PERSEVERANCE
KYM G My hero is my own mother. She has been through so much. From child abuse, to beyond belief. She still is working hard to keep herself in the right state of mind. When things go wrong, she is always there to make things right. When I was little, I always wanted to be just like her. I still do. She's an awesome...
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REACHING OUT
DIANNE B I was only 7 years old when I first moved to a town called Atascadero. This town was small. It didn't have much entertainment. No movie theaters, not many restaurants, no bowling alleys and to top it all off, I had to leave my old friends, go to a new school and start all over. My first day there was terrible. At...
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE
JIM H My story involves my future husband asking me to move out of his home and breaking off our relationship because I had fallen off of the dry drunk wagon and I was endangering his tenuous sobriety and the safety of his son. I had fallen in love with Jim the moment I saw his penpal entry on a penpal and singles...
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LOVE
BILL D Bill is my hero, friend and mentor. As an elder, he has been in relentless service of my personal growth and that of numerous men in his community. Bill is a man of integrity, power and joy. He serves many communities with passion and truth. I am so blessed to be blessed by Bill.
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TRUE BEAUTY
JESÚS P My dad is the best person I have ever met. Nothing I have ever seen or heard from others will ever convince me otherwise. A little less than two years ago, when I was 24 years old, I was living away from home for college and was involved in what could have been potentially serious legal trouble. My dad flew 2,500...
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PERSEVERANCE
DAVID L My father died of lung, brain, and adrenal gland cancer. He battled an addiction to alcohol. He endured abuse from his adopted mother and father. He had one divorce, married my mother, and had two children. He quit drinking when we were young and tried to do everything he could do as a father.
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KINDNESS
LORETTA S My Grandmother is my hero because she was always there for me when I needed her. She was there when I needed someone to talk to; she was was my everything. She raised me since I was three months old and loved me like I was her own child. She passed away last year and I miss her so much. Although I have my husband...
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GRATITUDE
BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY I have always been the "big girl". I sky rocket above all girls and some boys. I'm built bigger and compared to every one else I'm an amazon woman. Just to add, I've never been the best at anything. In school there are always kids smarter than me, and in sports, well let's just say I'm very uncoordinated. In 6th...
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RIGHT CHOICES
JIM AND DEBBIE P My heroes are my dad and mom. They have always taught me to be strong, and to make the right choices because that is what leads to succeess in life. They have taught me to make choices to the best of my ability and to live my life to the fullest!
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CARING
DANNY J My name is Cheyanne Bury and my hero is my brother Daniel Jackson. He has been my hero for a long time because he was there to help me through the death of my parents. Daniel has been here through thick and thin.. No matter what goes on Daniel will always be there for me.
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TEACHING BY EXAMPLE
TARA S My cousin Tara is my hero. She has brain cancer... and three young children. And also an alcoholic and abusive husband. Somehow, she has pushed through all this and has been the most amazing cousin I could ask for. I love her with all my heart and I want to be just like her when I grow up.
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RIGHT CHOICES
KANDYCE H Hi my name is Krystle and I'm an addict. I have been addicted to drugs for 6 years and it wasn't until I went to stay with my sister and her family that I was able to come off and stay off drugs. Kandyce is my niece and she is the most amazing person I know. She is very responsible, a wonderful big sister, holds...
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KINDNESS
DALLAS COWBOY During Christmas break of my freshman year I flew home; however, I had to connect through Dallas-Forth Worth. I arrived during a terrible thunderstorm and my outgoing flight was canceled. I was just 18 and I was stuck in Dallas far away from my friends and family, so I started to cry. I could not stop sobbing....
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SPORTSMANSHIP
THE GIRL WHO COULD There was a girl in my gym class. Everyone considered her a total spaz when it came to kick ball or basketball. So when we had to choose teams, I was team captain. I had the first choice and my friends told me before hand not to choose the girl. Well I saw the girl standing there away from the whole class so I...
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COMMON GROUND
OUR LOVE IS ROCK SOLID Love is a rock. Love is never EVER forgetting, it transcends time! It bridges generations. It is translated into every language. It was present in the cave man era; it will present as long as mankind exists. My greatest valentine is rock solid. It is over a billion years old. It ventured from Lake...
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COURAGE
PABLO S My everyday hero was my father. He was diagnosed with Islet Cell Cancer in the pancreas in 2009 and his fight lasted only nine short months. In those nine months he prepared me for life after he was gone, he helped me figure out who should walk me down the isle, he reminded me he'd be watching over me the day I...
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DETERMINATION
TOM B My dad was the third of three children. Born almost exactly 9 months after World War II ended, he was one of the first baby boomers. My dad put himself through college, volunteered for the army and fought in the Vietnam War. He started multiple multi-million dollar companies, ran for senator, spent 7 years on the...
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LOVE
KATHLEEN (KAT) F My hero is my oldest and best friend, Kat. I met her when I was 17, I am now 40. I never had a real family having alcoholic parents and no siblings. Kat took me into hers. I care for her as the sister I always wanted and I know without her, I would not be here. I have been unemployed since Sept. and only make...
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LOVE
KIM N Kim Norton is my husband. I met him at a cancer benefit dance in November of 1996, for my terminally ill sister, Sheri Cole, who had colon cancer. Sheri was only 27 years old when she was diagnosed with colon cancer and she and I were always extremely close. At the time of the benefit dance, I was a single mother...
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EQUALITY
OUR VALUES IN QUESTION New York's Foundry Theater is making a new theater piece about "Value" - in all its poetic iterations: quantitatively through our relations to money and qualitatively by asking what we hold dear. "Asking" is the operative word since the play is actually constructed of questions, posed by 3 performers to audience...
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HARD WORK
COLIN P Colin Powell grew up in the Bronx. He ended up going to college where he found his true calling in the the U.S. Army. In time, he became the first Black man to become Staff Chief of Joints and Secretary of State. Nobody in his family thought he would amount to much because of his attitude, but he proved them wrong.
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